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Second World War poster showing merchant navy flag, the Red Ensign (Catalogue reference: INF 3/127)

This is a brief guide to researching records of merchant seamenseafarers on merchant vessels - ships that transport cargo or passengers serving after 1917. Many, but not all, records of merchant seamen survive from 1918 onwards. The records are kept in a variety of archives.

  • What do I need to know before I start?

    • Try to find out:

      • the name of the merchant seaman
      • their date of birth
      • their place of birth

  • What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?

    • Seamen's pouches (1941-1972)

      Search the Cataloguea search tool with descriptions of 11 million documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies by name in BT 372 and BT 391 to see if a seaman's pouchan envelope or pouch assigned to each seaman containing employment records survives. Seamen's pouches are also available for the Second World War period arranged in alphabetical ranges in BT 390.

    • Fourth Register of Seamen combined index (1918-c.1972)

      Consult the registera volume of regularly and formally recorded information in BT 364 (1918 to c.1972). These index cards are on microfiche (the originals are held by Southampton Archives).

    • Fifth Register of Seamen's Service (seamen's docket books) (1941-1972)

      Browse the Catalogue for seamen's docket booksseamen's docket book - document or register giving details of service in BT 382.

    • Index of First World War Mercantile Marine Medals and the British War Medal (1914-1925)

      Look through the microfiche index in BT 351 by name for recipients of medals.

    • Merchant Navy gallantry awards for the Second World War (1939-1947)

      Search the Catalogue by name of person or ship in T 335 to find what the award was, the person's rank at the time, and the ship they were serving on.

    • Agreements and crew lists (1835-1994)

      Search for agreements and crew listswritten agreements regarding conditions of service and crew lists filed by ships' masters with the Registrar General of Shipping by ship's official number (obtainable from the Miramar Ship Index (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.)) in BT 99, BT 380 and BT 381. (For some dates after 1927, you will have to browse the Cataloguea search tool with descriptions of 11 million documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies as the numbers are given as ranges).

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Did you know?

The Central Indexed Registerregister from 1913 to 1941 of all men and women employed at sea, or Fourth Register of Seamen, was started in 1913 and maintained until 1941.

The National Archives holds the following proportions of agreements and crew listswritten agreements regarding conditions of service and crew lists filed by ships' masters with the Registrar General of Shipping after 1861:

  • 1861-1938: 10%
  • 1939-1950: 100%
  • 1951-1994: 10%

Most crew lists from 1863 to 1976 are held by the Maritime History Archive in Newfoundland, and are searchable online by ship's number.

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